Ordway

Wednesday Webisode: On the Road with Billy

Wed, Oct 3, 2012 12:20 PM by Emily Kudrle

Ever wonder what it takes to bring a broadway show like Billy Elliot to Minnesota? Hear from Production Manager Kimberly Fisk about all the ins and outs of bringing this show to life city to city!

Posted in Billy Elliot, Theater Season, Musicals

The 1984 Miners' Strike: The history behind Billy Elliot the Musical

Fri, Sep 28, 2012 11:55 AM by Emily Kudrle

Billy Elliot the musical is set in a tumultuous time in British history. Set in a small English town, the story follows Billy as he stumbles out of the boxing ring and into a ballet class, discovering a surprising talent for dance that inspires his family and his whole community, and changes his life forever.

During this time the coal miner’s strike of 1984/1985 was in full force and spurred one of the county’s most enduring conflicts in recent history. In 1984, the mineworkers’ union, with 250,000 members, was among the most powerful unions in Britain. The battle began in March of that year when, after an economic recession exposed the industry, the government announced pit closures.

Billy Elliot is set in a town where coal mining had been the life blood of the economy, and a certain way of life for hundreds of years. To the people of this town, this strike seemed less like an industrial fracas and more akin to a civil war. As the strike spread and the demands of the National Union of Mineworkers became more defiant, the government reacted with intransigence and intimidation. Police and pickets played out almost daily confrontations and by March 1985, when the strike was finally defeated, 11,291 people had been arrested.

“Solidarity, solidarity,
Solidarity forever
All for one and one for all”

In a time of so much turmoil and strife, Billy teaches us that we are all capable of making the lives we want for ourselves. Whether it be ballet dancing or some other form of self-expression, we are in control of living a life full of joy and happiness. He also teaches us that whatever our circumstance, there is always the opportunity to create a better life, no matter what comes in our way. Keep on dancing!

Posted in Billy Elliot, Theater Season, Musicals

Wednesday Webisode: From Stage to Screen

Wed, Sep 26, 2012 12:23 PM by Emily Kudrle

Hear from director Stephen Daldry and composer Elton John as they discuss the process of bring Billy Elliot from the small screen to the big stage!

Posted in Billy Elliot, Theater Season, Musicals

Wednesday Webisode: Family and Community

Wed, Sep 19, 2012 2:31 PM by Emily Kudrle

This week's Wednesday Webisodes gives us a look into the heart and soul of Billy Elliot and we get to hear what makes the show so special to its cast and crew!

Posted in Musicals, Billy Elliot, Theater Season

The Words and Music of Rogers & Hammerstein & Hart

Fri, Sep 14, 2012 1:24 PM by Emily Kudrle

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein were an influential, innovative, and successful musical theatre writing team of the early 20^th century. With such great shows like Oklahoma!, Carousel, The King and I, South Pacific, and The Sound of Music, their music and lyrics have stood the test of time.

Before teaming up, both Rodgers and Hammerstein had enjoyed plenty of success on their own. Richard Rodgers started his career fresh out of Columbia University. Along with fellow classmate Lorenz Hart, he wrote many unforgettable hit songs including, “My Funny Valentine,” “Blue Moon,” “Manhattan” and hundreds of others.

Oscar Hammerstein also had a collaborating partner before joining forces with Rodgers. With the help composer Jerome Kern, Hammerstein wrote many successful musicals including “Show Boat,” which is considered to be one of the masterpieces of American musical theatre.

Drawn together by a desire to create a musical based on Lynn Riggs' stage play, “Green Grow the Lilacs,” Rodgers and Hammerstein began their first collaboration, Oklahoma! in 1943. While it was not the first musical of its kind to tell a story of emotional depth and psychological complexity, Oklahoma! was instrumental in introducing a number of new storytelling elements and techniques. The use of song and dance to convey plot and character rather than act as a diversion from the story created a new way for musicals to integrate every song into the plotline of the story, while still maintaining the musicality of the show.

Other notable works of Rodgers and Hammerstein include: Carousel, The King and I, South Pacific, Cinderella, and their last work together, The Sound of Music.

Rodgers and Hammerstein have left their legacy in the world of musical theatre. Because of the success of their shows, many musicals that followed contained similar elements of mature themes and storytelling that included all aspects of dance, song, and drama to create an enriched theatre experience. Because of all this, the words and music of Rodgers and Hammerstein will continue to delight audiences for years to come.

Posted in Theater Season, Musicals, Rodgers & Hammerstein

Download a PDF version of the Dance Content Form >

Why Dance Makes You Shine!

Wed, Sep 5, 2012 2:16 PM by Luke Anderson

Submit an essay telling us why you have a passion for dance and why it makes you SHINE from the inside out! Submit your entry in the creative format that expresses your passion for dance best; such as song, video, drawing/painting, photo collage, a written essay, or whatever else you can imagine.

One Grand Prize Winner will receive a Family Four Pack of tickets to see Billy Elliot The Musical on opening night Oct 9, meet the company, and enjoy an exclusive backstage tour.

Two Runners-Up will receive a Family Four Pack of tickets to see the show on opening night Oct 9. Essay must be submitted by 5pm Fri, Sept 28.

When submitting your essay please include your NAME, AGE, ADDRESS, PHONE, and ESSAY FORMAT.

Posted in Theater Season, Contests, Musicals, Billy Elliot

The Reviews are in for Chicago!

Wed, Aug 8, 2012 2:47 PM by Luke Anderson

Critics are buzzing about Chicago at the Ordway! Below are several local reviews from Tuesday night’s opening performance.

Star Tribune, "'Chicago' brings back razzle-dazzle," By Rohan Preston

BroadwayWorld.com, "It's All Show Business, CHICAGO Razzle-Dazzles Minneapolis," By Kristin Frosch

TCJewfolk.com, "'Chicago at Ordway Has It All...But They're Not My Aunts From Chicago," By Phil Goldman

HowWasTheShow.com, "Chicago at the Ordway," By John Olive

Twin Cities Daily Planet, "At the Ordway, 'Chicago' still has fishnet-clad legs," By Dana Hanson

Lavender Magazine, "Chicago really is All That Jazz," By Kathleen Watson

Tru Magazine, "Review of 'Chicago'," By Stephanie Allensworth

Chicago is at the Ordway through this Sunday, August 12 only. For ticket information, click here.

Posted in Chicago, Reviews, Theater Season, Musicals, Ordway

The Razzle Dazzle Dance Contest!

Wed, Jul 25, 2012 1:17 PM by Hannah Arkelin

The legendary Bob Fosse outdid himself when he created CHICAGO. With numbers like “All that Jazz” and “We Both Reached for the Gun”, the Broadway sensation is a dancer’s dream!

Now it’s your turn.

From now until July 31^st, send us videos of your Fosse dance moves to a CHICAGO number of your choice. If you Razzle Dazzle us, you could win two free tickets to opening night! Dance with friends or send us a solo. Just don’t forget your jazz hands!

Upload your videos to the Ordway’s Facebook Wall by Aug 1st at 5pm! Videos should be no longer than 3 minutes in length and the choreography must be to a song from CHICAGO. Winners will be chosen and notified one week prior to opening night.

Some of our staff here at the Ordway wanted to show off their own Fosse moves! Enjoy the video below and see if you can top it! Don't forget those jazz hands!

Come on, Babe! Show us what you got!

Posted in Chicago, Musicals, Theater Season, Contests

"Who said that Murder's Not an Art?"

Thu, Jul 19, 2012 11:27 AM by Hannah Arkelin

CHICAGO is the number one longest running American musical in Broadway history and it all started “with a bang.”

CHICAGO: A Musical Vaudeville opened on June 3^rd, 1975 and ran for 936 performances receiving mixed reviews. Directed and choreographed by the legendary Bob Fosse, it was ahead of its time.

Fosse and his wife, Gwen Verdon, the 1975 Roxie Hart, had been trying for years to acquire the rights to create a musical version of the play CHICAGO written by former Chicago Tribune columnist Maurine Dallas Watkins. The talented writer had witnessed and covered the murder trials of two women in 1924- Belva Gaertner and Beulah Annan. Accused of killing their lovers under the influence of jazz and the prohibited drink, the lovely ladies became Watkins’ Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart.

As the riveting Velma Kelly would later do in CHICAGO, Gaertner pleaded not guilty to the murder of her lover and married a car salesman named Walter Law. She claimed to have no memory of the evening’s deadly events where she had been found on the floor of her apartment- soaked in blood. Gaertner admitted she owned the gun that had been used to kill her husband, but all she had to say was, “I don’t know, I was drunk.”

In the words of Velma Kelly, “It wasn’t until later, when I was washing the blood off my hands that I even knew they were dead.”

Like the story of Chicago goes, Annan was arrested a few weeks later for killing her lover, Harry Kalstedt. Her story, much like Roxie’s, continually evolved over the weeks leading up to her trial. She even announced she was pregnant the day after another female inmate was given a life sentence for murdering her own lover. The baby became her lifeline and her reason for shooting Kalstedt. She claimed that when she revealed her pregnancy to him there was a dramatic struggle and “they both reached for the gun.”

“So I closed my eyes and I shot…to save my husband’s unborn child!”-Roxie Hart, CHICAGO

Needless to say, Annan never did give birth to the helpless baby she claimed to be bearing.

Maurine Dallas Watkins gave herself a part in her play-Mary Sunshine of the Chicago Tribune. She described the two ladies as “jazz babies” and two of the most “stylish” and “prettiest” women on Murderesses’ Row. Much like Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart, Gaertner and Annan became infamous and acquired celebrity status. They were also, incidentally, acquitted by their juries who seemed to sympathize with their predicaments. The juries were also all male.

Beulah Annan died in 1928 after suffering from a mental breakdown. However, Belva Gaertner was able to attend the opening of Watkins’ incredible play in 1927 and recognized herself on stage! Gaertner died at 80 of old age in California in 1965. Watkins wrote more plays after Chicago, but she will always be best known and adored for her adaptation of the 1924 trials and the infamous mistresses of Murderesses’ Row.

Posted in Chicago, Musicals, Theater Season